Rituals and Words : Musings on Invoking the Gods

Altar with ritual and words in a stand up frame for ease of invocations 

    Something that anyone will realize after they've become pagan or started following a pagan path is just how little we actually know about the day in and day out practices of our pagan ancestors. We just don't have all the information, especially when it comes to words and the spoken parts of rituals and ceremonies. We are left to sort of make it up as we go along. This always really bothered me, coming from a more liturgical christian tradition. I love written prayers that I don't have to come up with on the spot. Extemporaneous prayer is not something I was very good at as an evangelical, and so the idea of doing it as a pagan isn't any better. Fortunately, there are a lot of good resources for prayers out there that people have written based on the myths and legends and attributes of the gods and you can of course write your own! 

    Recently, I have been studying Japanese Shinto, as many might know of my sumo wrestling exploits. Shinto has the distinction of being a fully intact "pagan" animistic/polytheistic religion or folk practice in the modern world with rituals and prayers so old nobody really knows how far back they go. One thing I learned though is that the shinto priest will often write rituals or prayers for specific occasions that might arise. 

    I really think the role of the priest/gothi/shaman is to communicate the needs of the community to the gods through rituals and offerings. There's a certain amount of intuition at play. In your personal practice, it's the same. Creating the ritual that will most draw the gaze of the gods that they may grant blessings. 

    While we don't know much about the words or invocations, there does seem to be a standard series of actions that are found across all cultures. Whether it's directed towards the gods, the spirts of nature or the ancestors the pattern seems to be the same. 

    A sacred space for your ritual is marked out. This could be a grove of trees, a stone circle, a favorite tree, a favorite rock, etc. What I typically do is call the spirits of the cardinal directions while burning incense. I'll say "Spirits of the North, come to us in peace" and so on. Casting a circle seems to be a more modern phenomenon, but there's nothing wrong with it. Then I typically will offer prayers to the idol, I'll mention the spirits and the ancestors. This can be done with pre-written prayers or extemporaneously. I prefer the former because I don't do well with the latter. I always feel that I stumble and second guess and it makes the ritual feel stilted and not very well executed and maybe a little cheesy. Then I will offer my libations or food after which I will say a closing prayer usually thanking the gods, ancestors and spirits for their abundance and blessing. I will send the spirits off with incense saying "Go from us in peace". 

 I think this formula works well. 

 Opening the space 

 Offering the Invocation and Request 

 Physical Offerings (Food and Drink) 

 Closing Prayer 

 Close the space 

 I hope this helps you in your own ritual life.